Mirror's Edge Update

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We run through the first three levels of the finished game.

By Chris Roper

The first-person genre has consisted almost entirely of shooters throughout its existence, but every now and then someone comes along and plays with the perspective a bit. DICE and EA hope to shake things up with Mirror's Edge, a title that, while containing (optional) gunplay, has its focus set squarely on navigating the environment, almost like a first-person Prince of Persia. We received a build of the game recently and have been able to play through the title, which does live up to its promise of not being your everyday FPS. While we'll have to wait a bit until we give you the full review, I can give you my impressions of the first three levels in the title.

The game opens with a prologue that introduces you to the controls. The world of Mirror's Edge has become overrun with Big Brother-esque government control. Most people have adapted to and gone along with the new world order, but there are some who live their lives outside the line, like Faith, a package delivery person. She (you) has been out of commission for a little while after taking a nasty fall of some sort, so the opening prologue gives you a chance to get your legs under you again, or in other words, learn the controls.

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After the prologue, the game's story turns to a mysterious murder and the framing of Faith's sister, a "Blue", or cop, who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's up to you to clear your sister's name and figure out exactly what's going on with the help of a little piece of stolen evidence. Of course, the Blues then come after you, and the rest of what I played largely involves either traversing building tops to sneak in a building and find someone, or running from the police.

While you're able to fight folks at times, you are indeed on the run for most of the game. Helicopters will swoop in and open fire on you, forcing you to be quick when navigating fire escapes and the like. Soldiers will force you through buildings, so you need to be quick to find the next safe route. There's a button assigned to pointing your view in the direction of where you should go, which is very helpful in some situations, but it's not always available, making some sections based more on exploration than a quick escape.

The first three levels (plus the prologue) feature a number of different situations to use your free running skills, though you do start to see repeating themes: Horizontal bars allow you to grab and swing from them to cross a fence, while stacked objects serve as launch points for bigger jumps than what the flat ground allows. Low-hanging objects are best slid under, while fences and boxes can be hopped over. Low structures, like trailers, can be climbed and used as jumping-off points to get to some place higher.

One of the cooler moments in the first couple levels happens when you're running from the police and need to get to freedom. As you escape an office building, you jump a railing and wind up sliding down an angled and long section of the tower. Your shoes squeak as you quickly descend, and given your speed and lack of anything to hold onto, your movement speed to the left and right is slowed. But if you angle yourself correctly and launch at the right time, it makes for a pretty sweet transition to a nearby rooftop.

As I mentioned, you can optionally partake in a little gunplay, though you're actually encouraged not to by way of an Achievement/Trophy that you'll get for finishing the game without ever shooting anyone. But that doesn't mean you're defenseless, as you have a number of moves at your disposal. Along with being able to punch and kick, you can come at someone with speed and dropkick them or run and slide towards them and then shove a foot in their stomach from the ground.

Nothing can stop us now. Not even this low fence.

While you can pummel your opponents into submission, you can also end encounters a little more quickly with a properly-timed tap of the disarm button. Soldiers who can be attacked will have a red aura to them (which means they won't shoot you dead if you approach them), and you're capable of performing disarm takedowns. As they go to perform a melee attack their weapon will flash red, and that's your window. It's a very short one, making this quite difficult to pull off. Thankfully, you can trigger a slow-motion look at the world, making this much easier, but it doesn't last long and takes a bit to recharge.

The game as a whole is certainly unique up to this point, and its level of enjoyment seems like it'll come down to whether you like to run or stand and fight. There's always room for variety, so it could prove to be a worthy aside to all the gunplay available on shelves.